


of broken bones and first dates

by revolution_but_civilization



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: And bad at figuring out how to interact with cute people, Bossuet is clumsy, Bossuet likes glasses, Courfeyrac works part-time at the Musain, Cute, First Dates, First Meetings, Fluff, Hospitals, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I will protect him with my life, Joly has freckles, M/M, Meet-Cute, Nurse Joly, You can fight me on that, ahhhh Joly is the best, and here's some fluff, bc y'know even theater nerds need a steady income, everything will be okay, my multiple panic attacks about downtown protests, this story is brought to you by:, ugh these nerds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:28:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24455938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/revolution_but_civilization/pseuds/revolution_but_civilization
Summary: Bossuet goes to the ER, several times. There's a nice (and cute!) nurse.---Applicable Warnings: Hospitals; a question about domestic violence (the answer is no, though, but it's still there); mentions of broken/sprained bones and like one mention of blood?
Relationships: (because i can't write anything that doesn't at least have those nerds mentioned apparently), Combeferre/Courfeyrac (mentioned), Joly/Bossuet Laigle
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	of broken bones and first dates

“Mister Lesgle?”

Bossuet looked up, raising his non-injured hand. “Present.”

The young nurse across the room huffed. “Yes, clearly. Will you please follow me to triage?”

They walked together in an uncomfortable silence down the hallway, finally reaching a small room.

“Please sit down on that cot there, sir,” the nurse said, pulling a clipboard out of a cabinet.

“Are you American?” Bossuet asked as he sat on the crinkly paper of the cot. “You sound American.”

“I studied abroad for medical school.” He glanced down at the clipboard. “Now. Your main complaint is… arm pain?”

“Oh, no, it’s definitely broken.”

\---

“Mister— wow, again?— Mister Lesgle?”

“Nice to see you,” Bossuet said, already standing up.

“I wish I could say the same, but it’s only been about two weeks since you were last here.” He squinted at Bossuet’s left arm, encased in a bright yellow cast. “Are you having complications with your cast?”

“Hey, what’s your name?”

“Joly,” the nurse said absently, flipping through the files on his clipboard, then looking up, alarmed, at Bossuet. “Your complaint this time is pain in your other arm?”

“Ehhhh.” Bossuet looked sheepish. “Maybe it’s not broken this go-round?”

\---

“Oh for God’s sake… Mister Lesgle, back again?”

The receptionist giggled, and Bossuet felt his cheeks heat up. “Yes…?”

Joly sighed. “You know the drill.”

This time, upon reaching the examination room, Joly didn’t immediately grab his clipboard, but instead sat down in a chair and looked earnestly at Bossuet. “Sir, you’re aware this is your third time to the ER in the span of a month, correct?”

“Yeah.”

“And you’ve had, ah, let me see… a broken arm and a sprained arm the last two times you’ve been here?”

“Yeah…”

“I sincerely hope you haven’t injured some sort of a third arm.”

That got a small laugh out of Bossuet, but he stopped when the nurse fixed him with a serious gaze.

“All jokes aside, sir, this is awfully worrying, and so, as a medical professional, I am required to ask if you are coming by these injuries due to some sort of domestic violence.”

“What? No! I’m just clumsy.”

“Really.” Joly squinted suspiciously at him, then picked up his clipboard. “If you say so. So, what is it this time?”

“Uh…… food poisoning?”

“Mmm.” The nurse scribbled something down on the paper in front of him, before gesturing back into the hallway with his pen. “The bathroom’s that way, in case you’ll be needing it.”

\---

This time, Bossuet didn’t even notice the nurse had entered the waiting room until he looked up, and, lo and behold, there was Joly, scrubs and all, looking disappointed. “Mister Lesgle.”

“Hi?”

“Mister Lesgle,” Joly repeated. “Walk with me. If you can. Not a broken leg this time?”

“No, no.” Bossuet stood up, brushing off his jeans and forcing a nervous smile.

The pair of them walked down the hallway, stopping at the all-too-familiar examination room. Joly turned to face Bossuet, arms crossed in front of him, as the later plopped back down on the cot.

“Now, Mister Lesgle, I’ve heard from my colleagues that you have not shown up any days other than the ones that I’ve seen you. True?”

Bossuet nodded.

“And, while the first two times you did in fact have a broken or sprained arm, the last time it was marked on your chart that your report of food poisoning was unfounded.”

“In my defense, my friend had made a suspicious-tasting dinner the day before.”

“Sure.” Joly narrowed his arms. “Now, this time, despite me not being a licensed doctor, I am fully aware that it is not, in fact, time for your cast to be removed as you claim on this intake form. Our receptionist may not know this, but I do.” He paused. “What’s the deal?”

“I… uh…” Bossuet started, flushing. “You’re… very nice… and… yes, a very nice nurse… and… uh…”

“Wait a second.” Joly put up a hand to shush the other man, before letting out a high-pitched laugh and grinning. “You came to the ER four times just because you think I’m nice?”

“And cute!” Bossuet protested, then realized what he had said and hung his head. “Uhm… and the first two times I was legitimately injured…”

“And cute…” the nurse mused. “You do know, Mister Lesgle, that there are better places to interact with people you believe are cute and nice than the emergency room. Such as a library, or a café, or a garden, or… literally anywhere else?” He laughed again, then suddenly seemed to become bashful, ducking his head and blushing a bright red underneath his freckles.

“Well then!” Bossuet gave him a smile. “You are cute, and nice, and I know a really good restaurant down the street from here. Would you like to interact with me there?”

“Is it the Musain?”

A nod from Bossuet.

“I know that place. Uh, okay, so I get off my shift at seven… I can probably be there by seven-thirty?”

“Seven-thirty,” Bossuet repeated, standing up. “See you there!”

“See you there.” Joly gave him a wry grin. “Now get out of the emergency room, please.”

\---

“Hi there?” The voice broke through Bossuet’s concentration, and he looked up to see Joly standing there, looking nervous and wearing… glasses? Wow. He looked even cuter now, out of his scrubs and with glasses. Bossuet liked glasses.

“Wow…” Bossuet gaped at the man, who flushed and sat down at the table. “You look… really good.”

“Ah, thanks. I would have worn something nicer but this was all I had in my locker at work.” Joly flashed an anxious smile, then starting flipping through the menu in front of him. “Uhm… you look good too.”

The several minutes of awkward silence that followed were broken by the arrival of a brightly-dressed man with a notepad, who squealed as soon as he saw Joly. “Joly! My buddy! How goes it?”

“Oh, hey Courfeyrac.” Joly smiled at him, gesturing with his head towards Bossuet. “This is, uh… my date?”

Courfeyrac squealed again, now turning his attention to Bossuet. “Oh, how nice! You’re a very lucky man, let me tell you. Hot doctors are very hard to come by, but Jolllly here is one of the few. Once, when he was first starting his job at—”

“Thank you, Courf,” Joly interrupted. “On the topic of hot doctors, how’s Combeferre? Our shifts, unfortunately, haven’t lined up in a while.”

“Oh, he’s doing just great. We went to this insect museum last weekend, and—” Joly’s one question led to a rant of several minutes. Finally, Courfeyrac ended some story about Combeferre and a beta fish, and smiled brightly at the two men in front of him. “I should actually do my job. Are you two ready to order?”

“Uh, sure, I’ll have a… pink lemonade and… the fettuccine alfredo plate?” Bossuet said, glancing over the menu and then nodding.

“And I’ll have a Sprite and a Caesar salad.”

“Of course!” Courfeyrac scribbled both those orders down. “They’ll be out in a jiffy.” He sped off to the kitchen, waving hello to other customers as he passed.

“Well, he seems nice,” Bossuet said, folding the menu and putting it in the middle of the table.

“He is. Very excitable too. He works for the community theater most of the time, but he’s here some nights to, you know, supplement the pay.”

Bossuet nodded knowingly. “Starving artists. Anyway!” He clapped his hands together. “It’s a wonderful evening, and you look handsome.”

“Aw, shush.” Joly turned as red as a beet, hiding his face behind the menu he was still holding.

\---

After the dinner, which Bossuet insisted on paying for and Courfeyrac insisted on giving to them on the house, Bossuet and Joly walked down the street, towards the parking lot of the hospital.

“Well… my car’s right over there…” Joly started, gesturing vaguely to the left.

“And I’m taking the bus home…” Bossuet added, then nervously ran a hand over his head. “So… uh… that’s that…” He paused for a second. “This was… this was a very nice night.”

“Right. Right.”

“Um… and you’re still very nice. And cute.”

“Yeah.” Joly chuckled softly. “You too.”

“So… well, you have my phone number… I have yours… I guess that’s all?”

“Right.” Joly pushed his glasses up with one finger, eyes darting to meet Bossuet’s and then back to the side. “Yeah… that’s all… have a good night.”

In a flash, he stood up on tiptoe and quickly brushed a kiss on Bossuet’s cheek, before sprinting off in the direction of his car.

“Huh…” Bossuet murmured as he watched the other man run off. He raised one hand to his cheek, a small smile spreading across his face. “Huh. Interesting.”

\---

Bossuet turned back up in the ER a couple days later, sheepishly holding an ice pack to a bleeding cut on his head. Joly just sighed and led him back to the triage room, but not before verifying that their second date was still on for that night.

**Author's Note:**

> Many things in the world seem to kinda be a mess right about now, so have just a nice Bossuet and Joly thing.  
> Stay safe and healthy, everyone!


End file.
